Cleveland has been chosen to host the NCAA Midwest regional basketball championships in 2015.

The city has been a host for the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament, most recently in 2011. The 2015 selection is a step up - the prelude to the final four, which will be held that year in Indianapolis.

Jeff Pacini is Vice President for Sports Development at the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission:

"Not only with, obviously, this being a really important event for generating media interest and the spotlight, it can also help us land bigger events in the future because it demonstrates our capacity to host major sporting events. So it really showcases our city well and lines us up for landing bigger events down the road as well."

53 cities competed to host the 4 regional events. Cleveland joins Los Angeles in the West, Houston in the South and Syracuse in the East. The games will be played at Quicken Loans Arena.